"Yossi and Jagger", 2002, military based drama and  same sex love story.  Dir. Eytan  Fox, with Ohad Knoller (Yossi)and Yehuda Levi (Jagger) RT. 67 minutes

Nobody can accuse the Israeli cinema of a lack of diversity.

If the yesterday's opening film dealt with the uniquely Israel topic of Talmudic research, the second film of the week takes up the more universal topic of erotic love between men -- but set at a frontline military outpost where machoism in the face of death  is the norm.

 The basic setting: Yossi (Ohad Knoller) commands a company of soldiers in the snow-covered mountains above the Lebanese border (or maybe its the Golan heights).  Secretly he leads a passionate romantic relationship with his second-in-command, Lior (Yehuda Levi), who is called "Jagger" by everyone for his rock star-like handsomeness and his ability  lip-sync Mick Jagger songs. It's not so easy to keep their secret in such a closely knit group.
 

The film opens at a snow covered outpost encased in swirls of barbed wire.Two officers, Yossie and Jagger, out on a patrol get into a playfull snowball fight, are soon rolling in the snow together, and -- whoops, what's this? -- start kissing each other passionately on the mouth in no holds barred closeups -- and we're only five minutes into the picture!  They then get it on right there under their uniforms in the snow. 

The pace has now been set for a swift paced love story (Rt 67 minutes) between men in the unlikely setting of a small military encampment under fire.  This compact smackeroo calls into question all the cliches regarding homoerotic love between men,

especially in the military, while at the same time offering documentary like insight into daily military life in the Israeli army, including the roles routinely played by young female draftees. 

The entire drama plays out in just a shade over an hour but feels like much longer considering all that happens.  There are frequent references to the influence of American films on young Israelis, a kind of ongoing in-joke...for instance at one point one soldier asks another: "Who do like better -- Sharon Stone or Michele Pfeiffer?" --that the answer is Pfeiffer doesn't really matter -- what matters is that Hollywood is the bench mark for beauty in Israel. Also in passing a comment in the depth of the American Israeli relationship.
While Jagger is often ribbed about being "as good looking as a girl" the ongoing affair  between Jagger and Yossi is kept under wraps until the end when Jagger, mortally wounded by a mine explosion, is kissed on the mouth by Yossi in full view of the others. A soldier girl who is strongly attracted to Jagger is greatly disappointed by his lack of interest. At his funeral Jagger's mother mistakes her for his girlfriend. 

In a country which is as militarized as Israel needs to be in order to survive, it is a sign of maturity as a nation as well as of its film industry that such a film can be made and accepted. Apart from that it is quite a good little film on dramatic grounds alone and was very well received by the Israeli public.

Director Eytan Fox (born 1964) is openly gay and has made ten features since 1990, often but not always on gay themes.

In 2006, Fox was the first recipient of the Washington Jewish Film Festival's Decade Award, a prize given to a filmmaker whose work has made a significant contribution to Jewish cinema over a period of at least ten years.